A review by berriesinmypocket
The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles, Robert Fagles, Bernard Knox

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Antigone, Blood Ties, and Mania 

Blood ties are the most difficult bonds to break, making them the most powerful. In most cases, familial love is a person’s first exposure to love. It unconsciously sets an example of what love should and shouldn’t be in one’s head. Once implanted, these notions are hard to break. Even once unhealthy tendencies are recognized, one still has to admit that they are rooted in more unfavorable aspects of their family dynamics. Despite all the strife and turmoil Antigone’s family has endured and inflicted upon each other in The Three Theban Plays, Antigone still holds love for all of them. She declares, “I was born to join in love, not hate— / that is my nature” (Antigone 590). And she does indeed go above and beyond for love, proving familial love is the most powerful because of the deep roots it has in a person. Her love is enduring and strengthening, a mixture of genuine affection, duty, and near the end, mania. 

Antigone often affirms her love through acts of service. In the play Oedipus at Colonus, she leads her father, the blind, old Oedipus, towards his destinations and looks after him. Their roles are reversed, the child now taking care of the parent. Oedipus even declares that she “had been born to nurse [him]” (1545). He also claims that she’s more of a man than Polynices, his eldest son, “when it comes / to shouldering [his] burdens” (1548-49). Antigone takes up the roles of caretaker, guide, and son in order to share Oedipus’ hardships. She never complains or expresses any discontent with her situation. Her love for her father allows her to cross these boundaries and shoulder his hardships in stride. 

Although Antigone takes care of Oedipus out of genuine love, her interactions with her sister, Ismene, make it clear that it has also become an obligation. In the play Antigone, Antigone insists on burying her brother Polynices, despite the king forbidding it. She approaches Ismene and asks her to “share the labor, share the work” (61). When Ismene refuses, Antigone is cold towards her for the rest of the play, stating, “I have no love for a friend who loves in words alone” (612). The underlying idea is that a person has to prove their love, and Oedipus was the one to instill this idea in Antigone. His dying words to her were, “one word alone repays you / for the labor of your lives—love, my children” (1829-30). In this quote, as well as throughout Oedipus at Colonus, he implies that his love is conditional, that Antigone has to work for it. She doesn’t understand why Ismene isn’t willing to go to extremes to demonstrate her love because she believes extremes are the only way to love. 

Antigone’s devotion to Polynices is where her love becomes manic. Her close relationship with Polynices is evident in Oedipus at Colonus. Despite Polynices’ betrayal and hypocrisy towards Oedipus, she implores their father to hear him out. She also addresses him affectionately, calling him “poor brother” (Oedipus at Colonus 1447) and “my dear brother” (Antigone 63), and he does similarly. After Polynices (and Oedipus) dies, Antigone is consumed by her grief and believes death is her only escape from it. She’s also consoled by the fact that she’ll see her family in the underworld. Already set on her ending, she decides to die carrying out Polynices’ final wish—to be buried with honor. She insists that she is doing it for familial honor and religious duty, but she is almost too ready to sacrifice herself for her cause; her original purpose is muddled as it becomes increasingly apparent that she desperately wants to become a martyr and achieve glory. Her unclear motive and melodrama, incredibly different from her disposition in Oedipus at Colonus, mark her descent into mania. They also help reveal the invalidity of Oedipus’ “work for love” ideology; eventually, her love becomes more of a performance than genuine affection. In this final act in which Antigone literally dies on her hill for Polynices, she fulfills Oedipus’ extreme ideals but also unveils the weaknesses of them. 

Fundamentally, Antigone is strengthened by love. She does rather impressive stunts for her family, such as dedicating a large part of her life to Oedipus’ care, and sacrificing herself in order to bury Polynices. Creon and Oedipus both compare her to a man (Antigone 541-42, Oedipus at Colonus 1548-49) while describing her strength and stubbornness. The problem lies within her love being horribly misplaced. Oedipus’ lineage was doomed from its incestuous start. Ismene recognizes this, and while she still cares for her family, she is reluctant to go above and beyond for them. Contrastingly, Antigone is unmoving in her dedication. Her family is a rowboat with holes that she is determined to get to shore, even as it’s halfway underwater. Her fierce loyalty to her family strengthens her, but it also blinds her to their wrongs. It gives her a close-minded perspective, ultimately setting her up for destruction in her play. Antigone proves that familial love is the most powerful type of love, but not necessarily the most admirable.